The GOP Confederacy

It’s very evident that the Republican party has it’s hand on the pulse of what minorities in the United States need to reach the “American dream.” Homeownership, education, the power of the vote, insurance and financial stability. The problem is the reason they feel the pulse is because they’re choking the life out of every one of those things and trying to prevent poor people of color from reaching those dreams.

Not so long ago people of color in the United States knew their place. They knew the clearly defined boundaries placed upon them by society. They knew where to drink, sit, eat and socialize. They were separated by color and restricted by policies, traditions and laws. They knew what they were permitted to do and also what was not allowed. They knew the limitations that were placed on them and they knew that that system was not in place for those who were not white.
Those apparently were the good old days for the GOP.
Today we’re told we can achieve whatever we want. We’re told that bigotry is dead. Racism is ancient history. All you have to do is work hard and you can have the American dream that was only offered to white Americans not so long ago.
Now that the most egregious anti-minority policies have been changed, those in power have had to hide racism behind legislation that diminishes our chance to achieve the American dream. Our government at the behest of wealthy financial institutions and those in power has made it more difficult for minorities to obtain college degrees, obtain insurance, vote and become homeowners.

Predatory lenders have destroyed the hopes of so many poor minorities and will create a $112 billion dollar cavity in the United States economy over the next five to six years.
Why has the judicial system sided with the predatory lenders and placed the burden of proof on the victims to defend against policies that are hidden, misunderstood, vague and obviously misleading? They’re owned by those same entities that gave them their positions.
Why are some of the largest financial institutions allowed to wreak havoc on our American dream?
Why is it that through redistricting, voter registration legislation and other restrictions we are seeing an increase in disenfranchised minority voters?
Why has our government made it more difficult for poor minorities to obtain student loans and the interest rate has been steadily raised on those loans?
Why has the median income risen only 17% since 1980, while the income of the wealthiest 0.1% of the population rose by 400%?
Why has our government continually overruled the justice departments civil rights division’s objections to Republican activity meant to intimidate and disenfranchise people of color?
It’s simple. The current GOP.
They are the party of racism. Look at the tools and tactics they use. Fear, secrecy, divisiveness, cronyism, intimidation, disenfranchisement, corruption and infiltration of the system that protects the rights of the poor and minorities. They hold up the Bible and justify it all. They vilify those who are different. These are the same tools and tactics used by white supremacy groups throughout history. This is not your grandfather’s or even father’s Republican party. They have expanded government for the purpose of trampling on our American dream while creating a super-wealthy class that rivals America of the 20’s.
They have made it very apparent that corporate America is the only group of Americans not vulnerable to their power grab. They’ve made it abundantly clear that they are going after those who are most vulnerable, poor minorities.
The GOP Confederacy rises again.

Andre, I think you have all the facts down but I don’t think thte motivation is race. I think it’s class.

The Republican Party has always belived that the wealthy are the true heirs to what our Founding Fathers created. They believe the unwealthy — by definition — are shiftless and lazy. Otherwise they’d be wealthy, right? And why would anyone help out shiftless and lazy people.

Almost every question you ask also applies to the bottom 80% of us on the economic scale regardless of race.

““The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto,”
Newt Gingrich

This article is a beatiful example of division being fostered within this country by those further to the extremes of the two sides of the political spectrum. It stands in stark contrast to the message of Stephen’s Celluloid Scapegoats. There he builds a case against the Republicans for being too extreme in their portrayal of their political enemies.

In my response to Stephen, I talked about the “Hollywood Elite” being a political construct designed to maintain the support and interest of those most to the right of the Republican base. I offered as a counter example the construct of the “Wall Street Republicans” used by the Democrats to solidify those at the left most of their base. I should have known that I was off a bit, you’ve taken that construct and pushed into something even more sinister, “the Racist Republican.”

You may honestly believe this is the case. If so, there is nothing that I can say that will convince you otherwise. However, I think that it is disingenous. There are to be sure policy differences between the Republicans and the Democrats on how to best help those most unfortunate among us. There are also differences in priorities in their respecive agenda in achieving this; (my bet it is not at the top of either agenda, btw).

However, I don’t believe that either party wants life to be worse for those disadvantaged among us. Even the quote that you use from Gingrich displays his solution for improving their lot. I happen to disagree with the effectiveness of his chosen solution, but I believe that he believes that it will work. It’s obvious that you not only believe that it won’t work, but that it was proposed because it won’t.

This requires a leap of logic on your part. You’ve shifted from being able to have a disagreement on policy issues from a set of facts to knowing instead their intentions. This is of course a time honored American tradition to villify your opponents, to set them off as less human than yourself in order to make your hatred of them and disgust of their policies easier to do without considering the merits of their arguments.

This is exactly what the Republicans do with the “Hollywood Elite,” “Liberal Media,” “Family Values,” and “Unpatriotic” arguments. This tactic unfortunately works, but it lowers all into the gutter where debate becomes invective and the opponent’s opinion and argument does not matter because they are flawed by their motives from the beginning. We are all worse off for it.

What facts are incorrect? I am lead to believe based on GOP actions and words that they are intentionally targeting poor minorities. You don’t have to believe I know their motive, i’m speculating based on fact.

kctim,

“with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”

He’s equating spanish with ghettos’. You are not offended because you are not hispanic.
I am.

So I guess it’s a coincidence that the GOP use similar tactics as the KKK and Arian Nation.
It’s a coincidence that the GOP policies hurt poor minorities and are beneficial to wealthy whites.

And where exactly does he say Spanish?
You are really reaching Andre.
Inner-city poor neighborhoods, ghettos, primarily speak whatever their first language is. Be it spanish, german, irish etc… Hell, even the laughable ebonics is used in alot of poor black neighborhoods.
The ability to speak English, at least for now, is a positive in ones quest to succeed. Most who do not speak English, pretty much relegate themselves to not succeeding.

And whats with this KKK and Aryan Nation BS?
Is it coincidence that the DNC uses similar tactics as Marx and Lenin? Or that their policies hold back the poor minorities?
Ridiculous!

Not to burst your poor me, I’m a victim, mode you got going here, but have you ever noticed how most people don’t really give a shit if your hispanic or not, unless they are trying to capitalize on it in some way? Much in the way you are doing here hoping to get some votes.
Pitiful!

The GOP isn’t out to get minorities or keep them down. Hell, if anything, they pander to minorities to get their vote.
THAT, is what we should be pissed about. Everybody should be treated as equals.

If the burden of proof is not on borrowers to prove they’ve been discriminated against, then where do you want the burden of proof? On lenders?

Is this what you want: for banks simply to refuse loans to minorities because it’s assumed that minorities lack the intelligence to understand the fine print on legal documents? THAT would definetely be illegal, and there are all kinds of laws which ensure that minorities are eligbile to borrow—even borrow foolishly—just like everybody else.

Is there such thing as predatory lending? Absolutely, just as there is such a thing as shady used car salesmen. But crying “racism” every time a minority comes out on the short end of a business transaction is tantamount to saying that minorities are helpless illiterate babies that can’t be asked to take any responsibility for their own actions. This does, unfortunately, seem to be a leftist belief, and its just as racist as anything ever dreamed up by the Klan (an organization, incidentally, that was composed primarily of white Southern Democrats like Robert Byrd).

I have learned four foreign languages in my life (six if you count classical ones) and have reasonable language skills. I also have lived in countries where English was not the native language. Try speaking Polish to explain that your daughter broke her leg, as I have. I have written that English should be the official language of the U.S. BECAUSE of my experience with other languages. It does not mean people cannot use other languages. It just means that we will not have to translate into many.

My opinion is not based on racism of xenophobia. It is just practical. I know how hard it is to learn and MAINTAIN a language at a reasonable level. I feel sympathy for immigrants who need to learn English, but I know that unless we give one language primacy, everyone will be disadvantaged and it will exacerbate tensions in the long run. I also know that the best way to learn a language is immersion. Bilingual education simply postpones or perhaps preempts the day when the immigrant can be a fully functional member of our society. Gingrich is right. He is not racist. It is racist to believe that people should be shunted into linguistic and cultural ghettos. Let them be free to choose.

It is also racist to assume that only minorities are bad loan risks. Beyond that you seem to want it both ways on loans. If they are not granted loans because of risk, it is racism. If they are granted loans they cannot pay off, it is racism. In fact none of the things in the article are logically connected to race. As Emerson said, a man’s view of the world is a confession of his own character.

What facts are incorrect? I am lead to believe based on GOP actions and words that they are intentionally targeting poor minorities. You don’t have to believe I know their motive, i’m speculating based on fact.”

I disagree with this statement from your initial post, “They are the party of racism.” This is the one line that I find most offensive both in it its goal of generating inflammatory rhetoric as well as it’s speculation that the one of the goals of the Republican party is to keep minorities disenfranchsied and poor.

You can take Newt Gingrich’s statement and jump on it for using the word ghetto, but his sentiment is to improve the situation. As I said before, I think his solution is flawed, but his goal is not. I lived in Boston in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The mayor then was a Democrat Raymond Flynn. He was a good man who wanted the best for minorities. The way that he conveyed that in staff meetings was, “I want to save all the little brown babies.” Does this make him a racist, perhaps. Does this make his policies or goals racist, not at all. Did this make the Boston Democratic Party the party of racists? Was is it the sign of a new Confederacy?

I believe that there are legitimate reasons to discuss and debate whether the policies of the Republicans are good for minorities. I don’t necessarily think that they have been in some cases; in some cases, I think they were ok. But I think it is a stretch to then state that because they advocated policies that we either unsuccessful or not fully successful that those that supported them were racists.

I understand Andre’s feeling that it is a conspiracy of discrimination. Discrimination is historical fact. You cannot simply dismiss his notion as paranoid fantasy or delusional victim thinking. To do so means you likely never experienced it, and therefore feel just in dismissing it. It indicates tone deafness. Redlining and driving while black (or latino) are still very real situations.

As to Newt’s rant. Everyone knows English is the language of prosperity. Hispanics know this more than most. To pretend that when you talk about bilinguilism in America that your talking about Polish or Hebrew (as Newt tried to do) is extremely disingenuous. Everybody knows your talking about Mexican and Hispanic immigrants. No other language is at issue.

I do think it is unfair to characterize Republicans as racist. The party at times does play to this sentiment, but I suspect most who participate in these columns are not. I think party Democrats are just as guilty of pursuing the money of predatory lenders as Republicans and agree with AP that it is more about class than race.

Your statement re language is reasonable, but let me add some historical context. We are talking about Spanish today and some people mistake that for racism because some hispanics are not of northern European ancestry. (some are, however, it is a big group)

In earlier times, the threatening language was German. The first English only laws were aimed at Germans. Then as now we need a common language. Germans, BTW, are the biggest minority group in America. 58 million Americans claimed German ancestry in 2000. We just do not notice them because of the other thing that works in America - assimilation.

The same will happen with Latinos and someday their grandchildren will be complaining about the next immigrant group.

What you failed to mention was that the Reagan Administration dropped Black unemployment from 12% under Carter to only 8% under Reagan. That’s some racist regime isn’t it. Reagan really kept those Blacks in their places didn’t he? If only Carter had won!!
Under George H.W. Bush, Black and White graduates with four year degrees for the first time in the history of the United States were at equal unemployment rates due to the Reagan policies carried out in the eighties. Before Reagan, those rates were as much as two to four percent differences among Blacks and Whites.
Yeah, Republicans are all racists. Play that over and over again. Guess all you Democrats are scared because Harold Ford Jr. couldn’t win Tennessee no matter how much they tried to compare him to Barak Obama, and Black Republican Michael Steele ran a close race in Maryland. Republicans are pretty used to your rhetoric without facts. Unfortunately, the main stream media won’t tell the truth about Republican policies and their real effects on minorities in this country.

JD

Posted by: JD at April 8, 2007 1:46 AM

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